Monday, August 8, 2016

Suicide Squad

***DISCLAIMER***
The following review is entirely my opinion. If you comment (which I
encourage you to do) be respectful. If you don't agree with my opinion
(or other commenters), that's fine. To each their own. These reviews
are not meant to be statements of facts or endorsements, I am just
sharing my opinions and my perspective when watching the film and is
not meant to reflect how these films should be viewed. Finally, the
reviews are given on a scale of 0-5. 0, of course, being
unwatchable. 1, being terrible. 2, being not great. 3, being okay.
4, being great and 5, being epic! And if you enjoy these reviews
feel free to share them and follow the blog or follow me on
Twitter (@RevRonster) for links to my reviews and the occasional
live-Tweet session of the movie I'm watching! Turns out every person in this movie has a mother named Martha.

Suicide Squad – 4 out of 5

The Suicide Squad is a pretty cool comic book idea.While it took some time to really take off
and catch on with the readers, the idea of taking D-list super-villains and
turning them into anti-heroes is a pretty intriguing concept.Sure, they didn’t really have much of a
choice and the missions they were sent on were usually the kind that your odds
of walking away from them are slim but it did offer up something unseen at the
time and it would later be a platform for some of the more obscure characters
from various heroes’ rogues gallery to get their own spotlight.Needless to say, I was pretty excited to see
that after Batman v Superman:Dawn of Justice, the next film in the DC Cinematic Universe would be Suicide Squad; however,
after the dashed hopes I had because of BvS I was a tad on the skeptical side. Did Suicide Squad correct what the
last film failed at?

Warner Bros. PicturesThere they are. A group of people sent on missions of a suicidal nature.They're called The Group Who Will Probably Die.

Even though Superman “died” at the end of Dawn of Justice,
the rise of metahumans has the US government sweating.Intelligence operative Amanda Waller (Viola
Davis) convinces her bosses to initiate her proposal of Task Force X; a group
of violent and dangerous criminals forced to perform the missions and tasks
that the military can’t handle.After
the metahuman witch Enchantress (Cara Delevingne) reunites with her brother and
takes over Midway City, Waller enlists Colonel Rick Flag (Joel Kinnaman) to
lead the team that consists of the hitman who never misses; Deadshot (Will Smith), the insane lover to
Batman’s most famous villain; Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), the pyrokinetic El
Diablo (Jay Hernandez), the Aussie thief with a love of boomerangs; Captain
Boomerang (Jai Courtney), the monstrous Killer Croc (Adewale
Akinnuoye-Agbaje), the mercenary Slipknot (Adam Beach) and the mystic
sword-fighter Katana (Karen Fukuhara), and together they set out to save the
day or die trying—but it’s not like they’ll be missed if they fail.However, while this is going on, the Joker (Jared
Leto) is diving headfirst into the mess in order to rescue his beloved Quinn.

Warner Bros. PicturesViola Davis perfectly captures Amanda Waller but, I'll be honest, I definitelywould have liked to see Oprah in the role had that rumor proved true.

The critics’ responses to the film haven’t been the most
positive.This has caused the fanboys to
react in the truly predictable way by claiming that there’s a DC bias against their
products and that Marvel is paying off the critics to bash the film.Even more idiotic are the fans who don’t
understand that Rotten Tomatoes doesn’t actually employ any critics and they’ve
started an online petition (because those always work) and they want the website to be shut down (did they know that WB actually owns some of RT?).I see myself as a wannabe critic and while I
do like to read other reviews for films I’ve seen or am going to see and I like
to check the Tomato-meter reading to see which way a film is trending, I’m also
not afraid to form my own thoughts and opinions when I review something—nor
will I get mad because critics or other people don’t agree with me (I don’t
understand that reaction in people).So,
that being said, I completely understand the complaints and criticisms about
this product but, despite it, I really did enjoy Suicide Squad.

Warner Bros. PicturesThis seems like the perfect picture to do one of those "Squad Goals" thing butI won't. Instead, I'll talk about how jet fuel can't melt steel beams...

On the negative side, the film does suffer from some really
sloppy development.The story focuses
entirely on Deadshot, Harley Quinn, El Diablo and the
relationship between Rick Flag and Enchantress while leaving characters like
Killer Croc, Katana and Captain Boomerang with only hints of development or
completely in the dust (I won't even get into how they handled Slipknot).You’ll get
enough of who they are so it’s not completely confusing to non-comic book
readers but I definitely desired more—especially since Jai Courtney steals the
spotlight more than a few times as Boomerang.Finally, the development is sometimes handled poorly within the context of the story and not the most
eloquently feathered into the plot.It
basically stops short of blatantly telling you that it’s time for some
development; it’s that so obviously thrown in.

Warner Bros. PicturesThis film desperately needed more Captain Boomerang because Jai Courtneywas just that fun in the role.

The film also suffers from some messy tonal shifts
throughout its running length.At times,
the film is slick in its presentation and brings in some humor that fits its
darker tone but, other times, the film tries very hard to be a heavy drama or
tries to be a special effects spectacular action film.Sometimes the change in tone feels fluid and
works but, other times, they are jarring and can completely shut down the
momentum the film has going for it.As
far as the CG-extravaganza action moments, this shift in tone is only harmful
because some of the CG isn’t the best.

Warner Bros. PicturesI'll clarify that the CG isn't terrible but it's definitely not the most photo-realistic.

Finally, the film has a tendency to use popular music like a
crutch.While this isn’t completely
terrible, it does sometimes feel lazy.It’s hard to not compare this element to Guardians of the Galaxy but
this piece in the Marvel film was essential to the character of Star-Lord
and, in this film, it feels gratuitous.That sounds bad but it’s ultimately not.I love almost all the songs they used and they did fit the scenes they
were used it but there are times they did feel, like I said, a crutch.

Warner Bros. PicturesThe film, thankfully, stopped short of using "Crocodile Rock" when KillerCroc enters for the first time.

Despite the problems though, I really enjoyed Suicide
Squad.I was enthralled with all the
performances.Will Smith is a badass as
Deadshot, Margot Robbie was flat-out amazing as Harley Quinn (and it’s just
awesome to finally see this character in live-action), Jai Courtney is
hysterical as Boomerang and Viola Davis is stone-cold and a perfect
representation of Amanda Waller.There
are some elements of the cast I wasn’t too thrilled with, however.I wanted to see more of Killer Croc in the
film but I was confused by some of Akinnuoye-Agbaje acting choices and, like
how I felt about Jesse Eisenberg’s portrayal of Lex Luthor, I’m not entirely
sure about Jared Leto’s Joker.While
it’s clear that this is a new Joker that we’ve never seen before and was very much
based on the New 52, Leto’s performance felt too even keel to either capture
the essence of the Joker or justify his moronic actions on set in order to “get
in character.”

Warner Bros. PicturesWe all realize his "methods" to get into his role were just an excuse tofuck around, right?

Additionally, I really loved the action and comedy of the
film.While Suicide Squad sticks with
the darker tone that the DCCU wants, director David Ayer was able to bring in
some dark comedy that worked and didn’t make the feature feel unending bleak and pessimistic—plus,
there wasn’t a single point of conflict that ended with the word “Martha.” That's a huge plus in the film's favor!

Finally, I really liked the new, adjusted dynamic of the
relationship between Harley and Joker.In the comics, their relationship is incredibly abusive; Harley loves
Mr. J but, to him, she’s just a toy for him to use and toss aside.I know before the film came out a ton of
knee-jerk reactions articles came out about over sexualizing Harley because of
her booty shorts but the final product felt anything but and these articles almost feel slut-shaming in retrospect.Harley isn’t some harlot who is just out to get with any guy that comes
her way and to dress the part; instead, she has the usual head-over-heels feelings that she is known
to have for Joker but, in an interesting turn, the Joker feels the same.They even pull inspiration from her New 52
origin and adjust it so it’s an act of a couple very much committed to each
other and not a dude forcing a girl to become what he wants her to become.It was kinda refreshing. Although, rumors stated that this came about only because of editing out a majority of Leto's Joker scenes but having it as is, it was very cool to see.

Warner Bros. PicturesI'll be honest, I did squeal a bit when I heard Harley say "puddin'" and "Mister J."

Suicide Squad definitely has some issues that hold it back
and really highlights that DC and Warner Bros. is still very new to the shared
universe building thing but this film really shows that they are actively
trying to fix the problems that have been seen in BvS and even seen in Man of Steel.David Ayer, with all the
outrageous antics we’ve heard about on set, was still able to make a film that
didn’t feel like a collection of moments for a trailer the way Dawn of Justice
felt and made something that was pretty entertaining and fun.It still has some problems and is far from
perfect but these problems never drag it down nor completely killed the
potential for entertainment it contained.

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About Me

I'm a geek, an atheist (who is also an ordained reverend), a peanut butter and jelly enthusiast, a man who shares the same name with a popular character from "Parks & Rec" and feels he can't live up to the awesomeness of the fictional character, was proudly banned from Reddit, an occasional Shakespearean performer, and a stand up comic.
Have any questions, recommendations or wanna share any theories on various movies? Email me at RevRonMovies@gmail.com and I'll talk about them on my new Q&A segment!